OVE as accredited Inspection Body according to EN 45004 conducts factory inspections at manufacturers of certified products.

Certificates issued by OVE attest the conformity of the tested specimen and of all products from the running production. To ensure that all certified products are identical, within accepted manufacturing tolerances, to the samples against which the Certificate was granted, OVE verifies during frequent inspection visits the production control routines for adequacy.

Most Certification Bodies require factory inspection in connection with their certificates. Under the CCA procedures, normally the Certification Body where the manufacturer´s production facilities are located carries out the inspection. Therefore, OVE performs inspections in Austria, first and foremost for OVE Certificates, but also at the premises of Austrian manufacturers on behalf of other CCA bodies (VDE, KEMA, IMQ, BEAB, SEMKO, SEV, FIMKO, CEBEC, LCIE, NEMKO, FIMKO, AENOR, DEMKO). In the same manner, OVE requests other CCA bodies to perform inspections outside of Austria in order to keep the expenses for the manufacturer at a minimum.

In addition to inspections requested by CCA members, OVE has agreements with Certification Bodies outside of Europe and conducts factory inspections on behalf of these bodies according to their procedures (UL/United States, JET/Japan, SABS/South Africa, UCIEE/Brasil, KTL/Korea, IRAM/Argentina, etc.).

Benefits for the customer

The Low Voltage Directive requires among other things the manufacturer to have an internal production control. In view of this, certification by OVE is a big help for manufacturers as the OVE Mark indicates not only the compliance of the product with European Standards but also that the relevant production processes are assessed by an independent body. At the same time the manufacturer/licensee is provided with supporting documents for his technical files to declare the compliance with the relevant European Directives and to apply the CE-Marking on his products with complete confidence.

Factory inspection procedure

For initial applications and if there has been no previous inspection performed at the manufacturer´s facilities in question, a pre-licence factory inspection has to be carried out. Therefore a questionnaire (Form CIG 022, Section B) will be forwarded to the applicant and has to be filled out by the manufacturer. This document contains a number of questions for the company concerning its location, contact person, number of employees, product category, materials, components and other parts that become part of the product, information about the company's quality system and which factory tests are carried out. As soon as this questionnaire has been received and evaluated by OVE´s Factory Inspection Department, the manufacturer will be contacted to schedule the pre-licence factory inspection. If factory inspection has already been performed by another CCA body for the product category in question, the inspection will be accepted by OVE and a copy of the relevant inspection report has to be forwarded to OVE.

Subsequently, manufacturing locations of certified products will be inspected normally once per year unless otherwise indicated to ensure that the necessary routines and procedures are being maintained at an acceptable standard. Should inspection prove to be unsatisfactory, the certification of products may be suspended until such time as procedures have again been found to be satisfactory. However, production under the certification scheme may, in some cases, be allowed to continue whilst corrective action is taken provided adequate written assurances are given by the licensee.

During routine inspections of a manufacturer's premises/factory location, sample(s) of certified products and/or assemblies and components may be selected for re-examination testing to verify compliance with the relevant standard.

Special inspections may be deemed necessary when a large number of minor findings and/or major findings are found to the extent that conformity of the product with the standard may be endangered.

Requirements for the manufacturer

OVE´s requirements for production control are in line with the harmonized CCA procedures. Compliance with these requirements will be verified during frequent inspection visits.

Reference documents:

Upon application the manufacturer will be provided with all necessary documents.

Further information

Factory inspection and production line assessment can also be ordered as an additional service by any manufacturer proving transparency and high level internal production control to his clients.

If you have any further questions concerning factory inspection procedures please contact Mr. Thomas NEUMAYER: